I was searching the archives regarding glasssing stringerless boards and there are several mentions of using weights off the nose to avoid having the rocker flatten, but I can’t seem to find anything about how to attach the weight.
Any ideas?
I only use 1.5lb and 2.0lb stringerless blanks via US blanks. I’ve never had a blank warp too much. I dont recall ever having a board straighten on me. Maybe if you glass the deck first and gravity pulls the nose and tail down, but I usually glass the bottom first. On the 2 lb eps I will sometimes add rocker by bend the tail and the nose using weights. If Im using 1.5lb and making a shortboard with a thin nose and tail, I will shape the bottom first and glass 2oz on the bottom before I finish shaping the deck/rails so the rocker holds. I use various paper thin veneers anyways so the extra 2 oz step is a part of the down the line process.
Thanks, Tony. I’m using a PU blank and it will be pretty severely foiled out in the nose and tail, hence the concern.
I did a few stringerless PU blanks with epoxy over it. The thinner foiled out boards I made all lost their rocker during the shaping process. You really have to use a rocker table or shape and glassing the bottom first to set the rocker. Another thing I found was… without the stringer PU blanks are incredibly floppy, especially if you foiled it out. You really had to add tensile strength back into the flex pattern or the board would feel dead with slow rebound.
Make yourself a simple rocker jig the blank sits on when you glass. That way you have a predictable and repeatable outcome.
for a short board just use a glassing rack with 3 supports should do the trick, I glass 17’ stringer less eps blacks and only use 6 supports.
I agree with that, An extra rack with a single point in the middle does wonders and it’s easy. The key is to get the two outside racks as close as practical to the nose and tail.
Awesome. Thanks, Gene.
After foiling out the board this evening and seeing how it sits just on the shaping racks alone the whole process sort of came into focus. Going to use the rocker template to make the jig tomorrow and see how this whole thing shakes out.
Thanks, dude. The board I’m making is 7’3" and already a floppy noodle, so going to have to use a few more support points. But good to know if I make a shorter one in the future.
I believe the rocker stick needs to be out during the shaping also.